Japan Post IPO raises $11.6 bn in year's biggest share sale

Tokyo: Japan Post has raised $11.6 billion in a long-anticipated initial public offering, fresh data showed Monday, with the shares set to start trading next week after the world's biggest stock sale this year.

The firm's holding company said it had priced its shares at 1,400 yen ($11.50) apiece, according to a Tokyo Stock Exchange filing, after its banking and insurance units raised billions of dollars as part of the sale.

The triple listing raised a combined 1.43 trillion yen ($11.6 billion), putting it on track to be the biggest stock sale globally this year and the largest since Chinese online giant Alibaba's record $25 billion IPO in 2014.

Shares in the vast government-owned company, which has about 24,000 offices nationwide, along with its insurance and banking units, will start trading in Tokyo on November 4.

The listing comes amid hopes that moves to privatise what is effectively the world's biggest bank could improve investor sentiment and spur efforts to cut red tape in Japan's highly regulated economy.

The firm's offices also offer services for cash deposits and insurance, and its local branches are where many of Japan's retirees withdraw their pensions.

The group's mail delivery unit will remain untouched amid social and political pressure to maintain the status quo, including the presence of post offices across the nation even in the most remote villages.

The government of former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi split the state-owned behemoth into four units in 2007, to handle deliveries, savings, insurance and counter services at each of its post offices.

The government retained full ownership of the group at first, with plans for the bank and insurance units to go fully private by 2017.

The privatisation project was stalled after the long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party lost power, but was revived after the party returned to power in late 2012.